In this blog we will continue to talk about optimising IT via services integration – what to do once the underlying physical infrastructure is formed, then the procurement and in-house creation of the pertinent ‘as a service’ models can begin. At this point the various options for ongoing deployment, management and integration as an “overlay” becomes the most challenging aspect of any hybrid cloud operation.

Optimum operational IT

To provide the optimum operational IT solution on top of the underlying infrastructure, enterprises have to find the ideal compromise between in-house and external skills to maximise the outcome of your plans and the adoption rates of cloud deployments.

Consideration also needs to be taken for when things go wrong, for example the ability to integrate these services together and perform root cause analysis when someone reports the application as ‘slow.’

There is a big difference between purchasing ‘Infrastructure as a Service’ (IaaS) and ‘Platform as a Service’ (PaaS), in terms of both levels of integration and multi-site resilience. Business continuity planning is key. Many Service Managers are surprised when things go wrong and a single point of failure is identified only after the event has occurred. A traditional business recovery service might not be needed in terms of physical hosting, but the process and tools are still required to test and implement a recovery situation.

Optimising IT via services integration

This means that enterprises should be on the lookout for potential integration partners as well as individual partners who would perform the roles traditionally filled by a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) and an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This may even extend to companies performing Security, Incident and Event Management (SIEMs) to secure the overall end-to-end service.

Ideally these potential integration partners are technology and vendor agnostic, and able to work on your behalf to secure the best long-term solutions for your business. i.e. as an IT partner their primary motivation is not to sell you hardware or bandwidth unless it’s strictly necessary. Furthermore, they may offer you an opportunity to avoid margin on margin pricing by helping you to source and procure ISP and CSP services directly, and even help to manage these on your behalf.

The right optimised IT approach ultimately allows applications and components to inter operate between traditional data centres and cloud. This can be done with the freedom to dynamically provision and manage applications based on your business needs. By following the right principles early on and making careful choices to avoid vendor lock-in and nurture the right partnerships, you can scale a very cost-effective service. This can be done over many years, and prevent you undergoing a complete rejuvenation every time your network needs to change and develop.

Look out for our next blog detailing Systal’s specific experience in this field. Alternatively, you can read the full article here or contact us to find out more about optimising IT via services integration.